The Valley of Vision by Arthur Bennett

The Valley of Vision is a powerful antidote to the popular teaching that Christianity is primarily about personal success and happiness. My husband and I have been reading a prayer a day for the past year and have often been overwhelmed with the beauty and clarity of each one. 

The focus is always on Christ rather than self. An example from the prayer on repose: Thou art so good, wise, just, holy, that no mistake is possible to thee... I yield to thy sovereignty all that I am and have; do thou with me as thou wilt. Thou has given me silence in my heart in place of murmurings and complaints. Keep my wishes from growing into willings, my willings from becoming fault-finding with thy providences, and have mercy on me.

I loved the book so much that I hate to mention my one quibble with it: the occasional emphasis on self-loathing. A humble recognition of our unworthiness to receive God's grace is everywhere in Scripture. Self-hatred is not. Many verses remind us that God has blotted out our transgressions to remember them no more. Who are we to undo what God has done?

That was a minor complaint. Overall, The Valley of Vision is a rich resource for godly, heartfelt prayers that point us to our heavenly Father in trust and worship. A final quote that I loved was, Give me knowledge of thy goodness that I might not be over-awed by thy greatness; give me Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God, that I might not be terrified, but be drawn near with filial love and holy boldness. 

The Gospel Coalition has an interesting post on the origin of these prayers, which were written by Arthur Bennett (1915-1994). Because Bennett uses the beautiful language of the original prayers (adapting them very slightly), it is hard to believe that this classic was first published in 1975. 

Blessings

A Small Tribute to Angela Lansbury

I have very little regard for Hollywood stars and their sordid lives, but Angela Lansbury was in a class by herself. My father loved mysteries and my mom liked good, clean entertainment so Murder, She Wrote was a staple in our home. When it would come on, my mom would call out, "Jessica's on!" and everyone would head to the living room. 

Only later did I realize she had been a successful movie actress when I saw glimpses of her in two favorite movies: The Court Jester and Dear Heart. (Both of these links have brief clips of her.)

Nostalgia led my husband and me to watch one of her films last night. The three that are on YouTube are based on books that I have read and enjoyed. I'll link to the films and to my reviews of the books in case your are interested. 

The Love She Sought is based on the book A Green Journey by John Hassler, which I reviewed here. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris is based on Paul Gallico's novel of the same name (reviewed here) and has only a few minor changes. Because of one of those changes, though, the book comes off as less saccharine. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax is a mystery based on the novel by Dorothy Gilman.

In every case the book is better than the movie, but it was still a joy to watch these delightful performances by Lansbury. 

Any other Lansbury fans among us?

Blessings,

Hangman's Holiday by Dorothy Sayers

I loved Gaudy Night and couldn’t wait to read the next installment (Busman’s Honeymoon) in the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane novels. Then I saw that I’d missed a book in the sequence and “had” to go back and read it, living up to my box-ticking “J” status in the Myers-Briggs world.

No one can quibble with the fact that Sayers is a master storyteller. All of the stories in Hangman's Holiday had me on the edge of my seat and quite a few were creepier than I’m used to.

It was fun to be introduced to the new-to-me protagonist of Montague Egg. He is a wine salesman who stumbles onto several crime scenes and freely shares his wisdom with the investigators. Just so you don’t take him too seriously, he often throws in some adages from the Salesman’s Handbook such as, “Whether you’re wrong or whether you’re right, it’s always better to be polite.” (These are even funnier when you remember that Dorothy Sayers worked in the advertising business and had a knack for coming up with these ditties.)

As always, I love any references to Wimsey’s love of books so I was not disappointed when in the very first chapter, a man picks up the novel that Wimsey had been reading and Wimsey waits patiently for it. When the man realizes what he has done and offers it back… “It doesn’t matter at all,” said Wimsey graciously, “I know it by heart. I only brought it along with me because its’s handy for reading a few pages when you are stuck in a place like this for the night. You can always take it up and find something entertaining.” How charming to have a book that you know so well that opening it up to random pages will always give you pleasure.

Another winner from Dorothy Sayers.

Blessings,

A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law

After 30 years of teaching Theology of John Wesley, I finally decided to read A Serious Call because apart from the Bible it was one of the books that most formed Wesley’s thinking about Christianity. Law begins this devotional classic by defining the nature and extent of Christian devotion, which holds little resemblance to what passes for Christianity today. He reminds us that it is a “serious call” after all, and requires every ounce of our being.

The first chapter goes straight to the sticky issue of how Christians should spend their money.  Using our money in any way we please, says Law, shows we lack intention to please God in all our actions. (Wesley followed Law’s advice to the letter by living frugally all of his life and giving money away as fast as possible. He felt that accumulating wealth was equivalent to holding on to hot coals.)

The next chapters encourage a wholehearted pursuit of God by rising early, reading the Scriptures and singing the Psalms. He writes: Prayer is the nearest approach to God, and the highest enjoyment of Him that we are capable of in this life. It is the noblest exercise of the soul, the most exalted use of our best faculties and the highest imitation of the blessed inhabitants of heaven.

Starting with Chapter 16 he adds suggestions for how to take advantage of certain hours of the day for specific prayers. At 9 a.m., for example, a Christian should spend a few minutes focusing on his need for humility. (He follows with a whole chapter on what true humility entails.) In Chapter 20 he recommends using the noon hour to pray for more love toward others, and follows this up with a clear explanation of  the high cost of real love. (This was my favorite chapter in the whole book and I felt it could easily have been re-titled: "How to pray for those whom you despise and learn to love them in the process.")

Chapter 22 advocates stopping at 3 p.m. to pray prayers of consecration and resignation to God’s will. The whole nature of virtue consists in conforming to, and the whole nature of vice in declining from, the will of God…. Whenever you find yourself disposed to uneasiness or murmuring at anything that is the effect of God’s providence over you, you must look upon yourself as denying either the wisdom or goodness of God. For every complaint necessarily supposes ill usage. (Ouch!)

In Chapter 23 he suggests stopping at 6 p.m. to review the day and confess any sins that were committed. Oddly, the updated version of this book removes all mentions of specific times of day (to avoid sounding too Catholic?) and thus robs the reader of a simple method for remembering when and how to pray for these needs. Tripp’s version was also jarringly anachronistic. The language was not updated very much, but the examples were, which resulted in old-fashioned English phrases next to illustrations about people playing video games, wearing yoga pants and watching movies. Halfway through the Tripp version, I switched to the original version and had no problem with the language or the original examples. And the Dover version came with very helpful footnotes.

Once I got hold of a good version (free download from my library), I couldn’t believe how much I loved this book. It is a book to be read slowly and prayerfully that will comfort and strengthen the heart of any earnest seeker.

Blessings,

You Are Not Your Own by Alan Noble

Weeks after finishing You are Not Your Own, its ideas continue to resonate with me. Noble sets out to explain how we Americans have come to the place where hyper individualism is killing us rather than fulfilling us.

He writes, If I am my own and belong to myself, then I must define who I am…. And the terrifying thing is that everyone else in society is doing the exact same thing. Everyone is on their own private journey of self-discovery and self-expression, so that at times, modern life feels like billions of people in the same room shouting their own name so that everyone else knows they exist and who they are – which is a fairly accurate description of social media.

The irony of a culture that promises that you “can be all you can be” without reference to any higher good or higher power is that no plateau is high enough. There’s always some level of perfection or self-actualization just out of reach. The freedom of sovereign individualism comes at a great price. Once I am liberated from all social, moral, natural, and religious values, I become responsible for the meaning of my own life. Hence the lie: If I am completely responsible for my life, then the greatest moral failure would be for me to fail to pursue what I desire most. I owe it to myself to be happy. The only problem with this is that unlimited desire and consumption always leave us exhausted and empty.

But there is good news, says Noble. Christ frees us from the unbearable burden of self-belonging.

An anthropology defined by our belonging to God is diametrically opposed to the contemporary belief that we are autonomous, free, atomistic individuals who find our greatest fulfillment in breaking free from all external norms. Our selves belong to God, and we are joyfully limited and restrained by the obligations, virtues, and love that naturally come from this belonging. This living before God is not easy. It requires sacrifice and humility, perpetual repentance and dependence upon Christ. In a secular age such as our own, it requires an intentional effort to remember that we belong to Christ, and that belonging is not merely a doctrine, but a reality that touches every aspect of our lives.

This is a tremendous book if you are feeling overwhelmed by breath-takingly rapid changes in our society and want to step back and see how it all happened. It is also a wonderful reminder to vigilantly resist the false promises the world offers for self-fulfillment.

Interestingly, I was primed for this book by, first, experiencing ministry burnout and, second, by reading A Gentleman in Moscow. Both experiences caused me to question the frenzy of always doing more, and to ponder ways to live more humanly within our God-given limits. 

Blessings,

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers

"Do you find it easy to get drunk on words?"

"So easy that, to tell you the truth, I am seldom perfectly sober." 

This is just one example of the rich dialogue between Lord Peter and Harriet Vane in their third novel together, Gaudy Night, which I enjoyed immensely.

A "Gaudy Night" is a kind of college reunion at the University of Oxford. While attending her ten year reunion, Harriet stumbles upon an obscene drawing and flushes it down the toilet in disgust. Later she learns that there have been a spate of similar incidents and is asked by the dean to stay on and help discover the culprit. 

In some ways the mystery is secondary to the main theme, which is the role of women in modern society. The story takes place in an environment where women have purposely chosen the single life in order to focus on academic pursuits, but within that environment, there are women who would rather be married. Sayers is definitely not advocating a "one size fits all" for women's roles. Harriet's own struggle with accepting Peter's proposals has to do with her fear of not being able to be fully herself while "tied down" to domestic life.  

Sayer's novels are not easy reads because of her frequent references to mythology, Shakespeare, etc. (A handy guide to many of them is found here.)  The closing lines are in Latin and I had to quickly google them to find out what had actually happened! There are several bewildering references to "Mr Jones of Jesus," who turned out to be a hypothetical rival to Wimsey's affections (a man from Jesus College in Wales). In spite of the befuddling quotations, Sayers is definitely worth the effort for her well-drawn characters and her thorough exploration of societal issues. 

Plus she's funny! I laughed out loud when one of her characters said, "It would have been such a bore to be the mother of morons." And again when Lord Peter was waxing eloquent on "How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks." After reading the lines Lord Peter added to her sonnet, Harriet, "went to bed thinking more about another person than about herself. This goes to prove that even minor poetry may have its practical uses." Ha!

This is the longest (and the most full of swearing) of the Wimsey novels I have read, but has by far the best dialogue and most endearing scenes. While I thoroughly enjoyed this book without the help of outside commentary, I greatly appreciated the insights shared on the Literary Life podcast (three episodes) that I listened to afterwards. Angelina and Cindy clarified a lot of details that I had not rightly understood, and showed what a genius Sayers was in weaving together every detail of the story. Angelina mentions that Sayer's essay "Are Women Human?" is the non-fiction version of this novel so now I need to get my hands on that.

Have you read Gaudy Night or Are Women Human? Any thoughts?

Blessings,

Be Holy by Warren Wiersbe

"What health is to the body, holiness is to the soul."

I always appreciate Warren Wiersbe for putting theology into layman’s terms without dumbing it down. Of the almost twenty “Be” studies that I have done, Be Holy may be one of the most helpful so far.

Leviticus is a daunting book to modern readers, but Wiersbe does a wonderful job of showing its relevance to our faith.

Almost everything in Leviticus anticipates the life and death of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The sacrifices, festivals, rituals, and laws foreshadow God’s redemptive plan. Jesus becomes the means to remove the guilt and penalty for sin through his substitutionary death on the cross. His death provides the final atonement for all sin. (p. 8)

Wiersbe is quick to point out that this is not just positional holiness (what God does for us) but practical as well (what God does in us): “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (1 Thess 4:7, p. 9) He laments that the chief pursuit of most people today (including Christians) is happiness, not holiness. They want Jesus to solve their problems and carry their burdens, but they don’t want Him to control their lives and change their character.

Much confusion surrounds the idea of “law-keeping” for the redeemed Christian and Wiersbe responds: While obedience to the the law isn’t God’s way of salvation (see Romans 3:19-20, Galatians 3:21-29), a love for holiness and a desire to obey and please God are certainly evidences that we are the children of God. After we are saved, our obedience to the will of God, as revealed in the Word of God, is the basis for fellowshipping with God and enjoying the abundant life He wants us to have. (p. 15)

He concludes the book with the reminder that “Eight times in Scripture, God said, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.'  Since God’s commandments are God’s enablements, this commandment assures us that it is possible to live a holy life.

I highly recommend this accessible, insightful commentary on a frequently avoided book of the Bible.

Blessings,